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AN Original Paper 



UPON 

EARLY RECORDS 

— IN 

CAYUGA COUNTY 
CLERK'S OFFICE 



PREPARED ^iY REQUEST 
AND READ BEFORE THE 

Cayuga County Historical Society 



GrEORGE 'W . BeJVHAM 
County Clerk 

TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL FIFTEENTH 

NINETEEN HUNDRED THREE 



early Recora$ In Cayuga County Clerk's Office. 

BY GEORGE W. BENHAM. 

In opening our sketch of the early records in the Cayuga county clerk's 
office, it might not be out of place nor irrelevant to refer, briefly, to the his- 
tory of the ofhce of county clerk and, its abiding place since it has been the 
depository of all files and records which are found there today. The county 
clerk, during the colonial period, was constituted by his commission, clerk 
of the Court of Common Pleas, clerk of the Peace and clerk of the Sessions 
of the Peace in his county. 

Under the laws of the Duke of York, promulgated March i, 1665, for the 
government of the Colony of New York, it was provided that no sale of 
houses and lands within the Colony should be " holden good in law," (using 
the language of the law), unless the conveyance be made in writing under 
hand and seal and possession given on the part of the seller or, where pos- 
session was not given, the deed must be acknowledged and recorded^ 
Recording at that time, involved simply the entry of such instruments, in 
abstract form, by the clerk of the Court of Sessions, who was also county 
clerk, giving grantor, grantee, date and brief description of land. This was 
the law in the colonies until 1710 when, owing to the fact that titles became 
very much complicated and that many deeds and writings relating to real 
estate were destroyed or lost before being entered for record, a law entitled 
"An act. for the better settlement and using of lands in this Colony," was 
passed, which provided that every person, corporation, etc., who by them- 
selves, tenants, servants, heirs or assigns had been seized or had taken the 
rents, issues and profits of any real property in the Colony for the term of 
ten years and should continue to so hold without any reverse claim being 
entered or presented, until Sept. i, 1713. should from that day, be adjudged 
to be the true and lawful owner of said lands or estate. 

This act v/as not to operate against minors, incompetents, or those impris- 
oned, provided any of this class should bring suit within three years after 
becoming legally competent. So we find that the law making the county 
clerk the custodian of the records affecting real property and requiring 
such instruments to be acknowledged before being recorded, emanated from 
minds living and participating in law-making over two hundred years ago. 



Under our first state constitution the office was continued with the same 
duties as before. It was an appointive'office, the appointive power being in 
the Council of Appointment. Under the constitution of 1821 it was made 
elective. 

I do not find that the duties of county clerk were changed in any material 
respect from the colonial times, except in the designation of his office as a 
repository for additional files and records provided for by legislation from 
time to time, except in 1796, when an act was passed abolishing the office of 
clerk of the Circuit Court and Courts of Oyer and Terminer, which until this 
time, had been a separate and distinct office, and imposing the duties of the 
office upon the county clerk, who was made ex-officio clerk of all the courts 
of record, except the Surrogate's Court, in the county. The late clerks of 
said courts were directed to deliver all court records to the county clerk. 
The record delivered to the county clerk of Onondaga, of which Cayuga 
was then a part, is now in our clerk's office and is the first book in the series 
of court records. 

Previously to bringing the county records to the village of Auburn there 
had been considerable strife and agitation over the question of locating the 
county seat where all county records should be kept, courts should be held 
and all of the county business should be transacted; the need of which had 
become quite imperative in view of the fact that the courts were being held 
at Scipio and Cayuga, while the jail was located at Cayuga, the clerk's office 
at Aurora, and the- general business of the county, because of convenience 
to its scattered population, was being performed in various widely separated 
places. But when Seneca county was detached from Cayuga, March 27, 1804, 
this changed the geographical condition in our county so as to render this 
system inconvenient and impracticable. 

The discussion became animated and the rivalry for the site became inter- 
esting and spirited. Aurora, Sherwood, Cayuga, Levanna and Hardenburgh 
Corners were aspirants. The promoters of the claims of Sherwood by a 
strategic movement succeeded in having inserted in the act dividing the 
counties above referred to, a provision for the appropriation of $1,500 for 
building a court house and jail and appointing a commission of three mem- 
bers to superintend the work and directing that the structures should be 
erected on the Poplar Ridge road and within one mile of the south end of 
lot 46 in the town of Scipio (now Venice). The commission had discretion 
within this radius only and decided upon a site near the present postoffice 
of Sherwood. This law and the selection of this site proved so unpopular 



and adverse to the will of the people that the commission never proceeded 
to fully execute its trust, and an act was passed March i6, 1805, repealing 
the measure and appointing a commission of three disinterested persons, 
consisting of Edward Savage, James Burt and James Hildreth, with power 
to locate a county seat. During this same year these commissioners agreed 
upon the Bostwick lot at Hardenburgh Corners as the site, but owing to 
dissatisfaction on the part of those who were interested in the selection of 
other places the supervisors refused to appropriate money with which to 
erect the necessary buildings, and the commissioners, after selecting 
the site, abandoned further operations. The citizens, anxious lest delay 
might jeopardize the maintenance of the county seat at Hardenburgh Cor- 
ners, raised funds among themselves and commenced the buildings on the 
site of the present court house, which was then the property of William 
Bostwick. The subscription soon became exhausted, however, and the need 
of the appropriation of public money became apparent. 

Assemblyman Elijah Price introduced a bill in the state legislature in 
1808. repealing so much of the act of 1805 as named the commissioners and 
providing for the appropriation of necessary funds. John Grover, Stephen 
Close and Noah Olmsted were appointed commissioners to superintend the 
completion of the buildings which had been commenced by the people. 
They were directed to finish the building and obtain title to one acre of 
land and to reimburse the private citizens who had contributed to the fund. 
The conveyance was to be made to the Board of Supervisors in trust, and 
the deed was to be deposited in the county clerk's office for safe keeping. 
Pursuant to the above act, William Bostwick and Hannah, his wife, con- 
veyed to the supervisors of the county, in trust, one acre upon which the 
present county buildings now stand. The deed was dated May 7. 1806, was 
executed in the presence of E. T. Throop and Hackaliah Burt as witnesses, 
acknowledged before Elijah Miller, master in chancery, and was recorded 
by Peter Hughes, county clerk. The original deed is still in the office and 
is retained there, for safe keeping, pursuant to the provisions of said act. 

During the controversy over the site for the court house and jail, the 
county clerk's records remained at Aurora where they had been directed to 
be kept from 1794, when Onondaga county was separated from Herkimer. 

There was no provision in the acts providing for court house and jail, for 
the erection of a clerk's office, and when the records were brought to 
Auburn in 1807, they were kept at the house of Peter Hughes, the county 
clerk, who resided upon the present site of the postoffice. 

In 1807 an act was passed authorizing the building of the first clerk's 



office. This act appropriated $800, but the amount was insufficient and an- 
other appropriation was made in 1814 to complete the structure. The records 
were then moved from Mr. Hughes's residence to the new clerk's office. 
The building stood near Genesee street in front of the present clerk's build- 
ing. That it was not built in an exceedingly substantial manner is deduced 
from the fact that in 1830 the supervisors of our county in a petition to the 
legislature stated that at their last annual meeting they had examined the 
clerk's office and had found it in such a ruinous condition that in their judg- 
ment it had become necessary to erect a new office. In connection with this 
petition the legislature enacted a law in the winter of 1830, appropriating 
$1,000 to build a new fire-proof clerk's building upon the court house lot in 
the village of Auburn, and appointing Nathaniel Garrow and Walter Weed 
as a com.mission to superintend the work of building. The outcome of this 
statute was the erection of a small stone building which served as our 
clerk's office until the records were again removed into our present and more 
commodious building, January i, 1883. 

The office, as we find it today, is filled almost to overflowing with records 
and files of various instruments and legal documents that represent the 
accumulation of a century and ten years ; a determination of those that would 
be of the most interest and value to you has been a matter of no little con- 
sideration. Each paper filed and every instrument recorded has the author- 
ity for its presence in the clerk's office in the statutes and laws of our state- 

Among the principal records are deeds, mortgages and judgments. These 
are all arranged in numbered volumes and are indexed in alphabetical and 
chronological order. The deeds, at the present time, are divided and in- 
dexed into three divisions, viz. : Military deeds, city deeds and reservation 
deeds, or deeds of land on the Indian reservation located on the east side of 
Cayuga lake. 

A short review of the history of the origin of these different divisions of 
records may not prove uninteresting. On September 16, 1776, congress 
passed resolutions for the enlistment of soldiers to serve during the Revolu- 
tionary war and resolved that each state was to furnish its respective 
quotas, and that congress should make provision for granting lands to the 
officers and soldiers who should thus engage in the service and continue 
therein to the close of the war, or until discharged by congress, and to the 
representative of such officers and soldiers as should be slain by the enemy. 
The expenses of said lands were to be borne by the states in the same pro- 
portion as other expenses of the war, and were to be granted in the follow- 
ing proportion: To a colonel, 500 acres; lieutenant-colonel, 400 acres; 



5 

major, 400 acres; captain, 300 acres; lieutenant, 200 acres; ensign 150 acres; 
each non-commissioned officer and soldier. 100 acres. 

Later, in August, 1780, congress further provided that a major-gen- 
eral should have 1,100 acres, and a brigadier-general should have 850 acres. 

By resolution passed in the state legislature March 27. 1783, it was 
resolved to discharge the obligation of congress, and in addition, as a gra- 
tuity to the said line and to evince the just ^ense the legislature entertained 
of the patriotism and virtue of the troops of this state, to grant to each 
non-commissioned officer and private, 500 acres; a captain, 1,500 acres, and a 
proportionately larger amount to each officer of higher rank. This land 
was to be located in the western and central part of the state in the district 
reserved for the use of the troops of this state, which is now known as the 
military tract and embraces all and parts of the following counties: All of 
Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Conland and parts of Tompkins, Oswego, 
Schuyler and Wayne. 

By an act passed May it, 1784, the governor, lieutenant-governor and 
other state officers were constituted and appointed commissioners for grant- 
ing the lands promised as bounty and gratuity lands, and by a law enacted 
February 28. 17S9, these commissioners were authorized to direct the sur- 
veyor-general to lay out as many townships in the military tract as would 
contain land sufficient to satisfy the claims of all such persons as were or 
should be entitled to grants of bounty land; which township should re^^pect- 
ively contain 60,000 acres of land, to be laid out as nearly in a square form 
as circumstances would permit, and be numbered from one progressively. 
The commissioners of the land office were authorized to designate the sev- 
eral townships by suoh name as they should deem proper, and no part of 
said townships was to interfere with or be laid out on the part of the lands 
reserved by the Onondaga or Cayuga Indians for their own use in the ces- 
sions or grants made by them to the people of this state. This reservation 
included what is known as the East Cayuga reservation on the east side of 
Cayuga lake in this county. 

The surveyor-general was directed to make a map of each township, and 
divide such township into 100 lots, each lot to contain 600 acres, and imme- 
diately after filing such map in the office of the secretary of state the com- 
missioners of the land office were to advertise six weeks, requiring all 
persons entitled to grant or bounty or gratuity lands who had not by them- 
selves or their legal representative already exhibited their claims, to exhibit 
the same on or before January i, 1791. 



The surveyor-general, not completing his survey of the lots provided for 
in this act, and a general delay following, due to lack of funds to pay for 
the services of surveyors, a law was passed April 6, 1790, which provided 
that fifty acres in one corner of the respective lots to be laid out should be 
subjected to the payment of the sum of forty-eight shillings to the sur- 
veyor-general for compensation in full for his services and the expense of 
marking, numbering and surveying each of the lots. This reservation is 
recognized by those who are familiar with the records of the county clerk's 
office as " Survey Fifty," and is referred to very frequently in the descrip- 
tions to titles. 

Under the provisions of this act the commissioners were directed to cause 
100 ballots to be made and numbered from i to 100 and marked with the 
words "Township No. i," and also a like number of ballots made and 
numbered for "Township No. 2," and so 01 until ballots were made and 
numbered for each of the townships. After having caused the ballots or 
tickets to be rolled up they should then require the whole of said ballots or 
tickets to be put into a box and whenever they had declared or determined, 
from the evidence before them, who were entitled to bounty or gratuity 
lands, they should cause one ballot to be drawn from said box, or as many 
ballots to be drawn as such persons so drawing should be entitled to shares 
of 600 acres, each ballot representing 600 acres, and the lots in each town- 
ship so drawn should be the separate and distinct shares of such person, his 
heirs and assigns. 

After the completion of the balloting, letters patent were to be issued to 
each of those entitled to the grants of land; such letters were to contain a 
reservation to the people of this state, of all gold and silver mines found 
upon premises so conveyed. 

Six lots were reserved in each township for the following purposes: One 
for promoting the gospel, and a public school or schools; one for promoting 
literature in this state, and the remaining four lots to satisfy surplus share 
of commissioned officers and compensation for such persons as should by 
chance draw any lot or lots, the greater part of which might be covered 
with water. 

The said commissioners were further directed that whenever it should 
appear that any persons applying for bounty or gratuity lands had not 
received from the United States the bounty promised to such persons 
by congress, or in case the said commissioners should not be able to procure 
the assignment, from a soldier, of land to which he was entitled under the 
provisions of congress, 100 acres were reserved in each lot to the people of 



7 

the state, which was laid down in the southeast corner of said lots, and is 
referred to in our records as States Hundred Acres. For example: A pri- 
vate soldier was entitled to loo acres from the United States, by an act of 
congress, and 500 acres by an act of the state legislature; the townships 
were divided into 600 acre lots, and when a private drew 600 acres this 
covered what he was entitled to receive from both the general government 
and the state, but he might have received the equivalent to his bounty of 
100 acres before, in which event he would not be entitled to 600 acres; or if 
he had not received his bounty under the act of congress, the state, in giving 
him- 600 acres covered both claims, but required of him an assignment of his 
claim against the government as a voucher that they had performed their 
part of the obligation under the act of congress providing for bounty, 
which was paid by the state. 

At a meeting of the commissioners of the land office held July 3, 1790, the 
names of the first twenty-five townships were agreed upon. It is unneces- 
sary to name them as they are quite familiar to you all, particularly those in 
our county. It is apparent, however, that the names of some of the famous 
Roman generals and statesmen were intended to be perpetuated in our 
townships. Several lots were drawn, and by the proceedings of different 
meetings of the commissioners, we find that the twenty-five townships were 
exhausted and it became necessary to survey three additional, to wit : 
Junius, Galen and Sterling; Sterling in our own county being the last town- 
ship to complete the twenty-eight townships known in the state of New 
York as the " Military Tract." 

Under the provisions of different acts providing for the appropriation and 
distribution of bounty or gratuity lands, the commissioners of the land 
office were required to keep two books, in which were entered accurately a 
complete record of the drawings of the lots. One of these books was filed 
in the office of the secretary of state and the other in the office of the county 
clerk of Montgomery county, of which Cayuga was then a part. The orig- 
inal ballot book is still in the office of the secretary of state at Albany, and 
there is filed in our own office a certified copy, which was published and filed 
in 1825. It contains the official return of New York regiments in the Revo" 
lution, and gives the name of the soldier who drew each lot, and also the 
name of the patentee. Of local interest we find that Alexander McCoy, a 
private, drew lot No. 46; John Doughty, a captain, drew lot No. 47; Nicholas 
Avery, a private, drew lot No. 56; Peter Gansevort, a colonel, drew lot No, 
57, four lots of the original township of Aurelius and which now form the 
major part of the city of Auburn. 



In order to designate which of the six lots reserved in each town were to 
be the gospel and literature lots, respectively, the supervisors of the several 
towns in our county were enjoined by an act passed April ii, 1796, to des- 
ignate at their next annual meeting which lot in each of said towns should 
be appropriated to the support of the gospel and schools and to take the 
same action in relation to the lots for the promotion of literature, and to 
make three lists of the same to be filed with the surveyor-general, secretary 
of state and county clerk respectively. The original list or designation 
made by the supervisors, pursuant to this act, is now in our clerk's office. 

By subsequent legislation the lots so reserved were placed in charge of the 
supervisor, together with commissioners appointed for that purpose in each 
of the towns. Some of those that went for the support of literature were 
conveyed by the state to the trustees of Union College of Schenectady, with 
provisions that should any of them be sold by said college the proceeds were 
to be invested and the revenue appropriated to the support of the presi- 
dent and professors of the college. Lot No. 88, Sterling, which was 
reserved for literature, was granted to the Auburn academy in 1825, but 
was re-conveyed to the state in 1827 in consideration of $2,000 as appropri- 
ated at that time for the use of the academy. Others were sold by the state 
and the proceeds formed a permanent fund for the support of common 
schools. Many of the gospel and school lots remain unsold and are held 
under lease in charge of the supervisor of the town, the proceeds of which 
were formerly equally divided for the benefit of gospel and schools, respec. 
tively, but are now entirely applied and apportioned for the benefit of 
schools in the several school districts in the towns. 

On February 16, 1791, the county of Herkimer, which then embraced, 
with other lands, our own county, was separated from Montgomery. 

After the act providing for grants of bounty and gratuity lands to the 
Revolutionary soldiers had been passed, the soldiers became vested with a 
prospective claim to real estate and the scarcity of money rendered 
them easy prey for speculators. For a merely nominal consideration 
many sold their interest in such lots as might be drawn by them. 
For example : The soldier who drew lot 48, Aurelius, a part of which 
embraces a portion of land in the eastern part of Auburn, sold his 
interest for ^^6, los. True, it was a lottery to buy before the soldiers 
had balloted, but judging from the consideration in most of the 
assignments, sufficient care was taken by tne purchaser to insure a 
good investment, regardless of the fate of the ballot. Many of the 
soldiers executed assignments of their interests in such lands to other per- 



sons, before they had been discharged from the service or the lots had been 
secured by ballot. After they had received their patents, pursuant to 
ballot, other transfers of different nature were made, but were not recorded. 
Many frauds were perpetrated respecting the titles to property, by forg- 
ing and antedating conveyances and by conveying the same lands to differ- 
ent persons, so that it became very difficult to know in whom the legal title 
to some of the lands was vested. For a remedy, therefore, and in order to 
detect frauds and prevent them in the future, an act for registering deeds 
and conveyances relating to the military lands was passed January 8, 1794. 
This act is the authority for the first record of deeds in our county clerk's 
office. It provided that all deeds and conveyances theretofore made and 
executed, or purporting to be made, whereby any of said lands might be in 
any way affected, should on or before the first day of May, 1794, be delivered 
to and deposited with the clerk of the city and county of Albany, and that 
all deeds and conveyances theretofore made and executed, which should not 
be so delivered and deposited on or before that day should be adjudged 
fraudulent and void, as against any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee for 
valuable consideration. The clerk in the presence of the person deliver- 
ing the deed was required to register the name of every person whose 
name appeared in the instrument, the date of the deed and the name 
of the person to whom it was granted, for which service he was to receive 
a fee of sixpence. The deeds or conveyances were then to be filed in pack- 
ages, marked in alphabetical order, and were open to the inspection of any 
person desiring to examine them. The clerk of Albany county was directed 
to deliver, on or before the ist day of June, 1794, all of these deeds and con- 
veyances deposited in his office, to the clerk of the county of Herkimer. 

The act further provided that all deeds and conveyances thereafter to be 
made and executed whereby any of these military lands might in any way 
be affected, should be recorded by the clerk of the county of Herkimer, in 
books provided by him for that particular purpose and in which no other 
matters were to be entered, and that every deed and conveyance, excepting 
mortgages duly registered, thereafter to be made and executed, should be 
adjudged fraudulent and void against any subsequent purchaser or mort- 
gagee unless recorded, as by this act directed, before recording the deed or 
conveyance under which any subsequent purchaser or mortgagee should 
claim. No such deed or conveyance could be recorded unless it had been 
duly acknowledged according to law, and all were to be recorded in order 
as of the time when delivered for that purpose; and a certificate should be 
endorsed on every such deed and conveyance showing the day, hour of its 



lO 

receipt and the book and page in which it was recorded, which certificate 
should be signed by the county clerk. The need of establishing some 
systematic and safe method in protecting the title of real estate from frauds 
is demonstrated in the fact that this law adjudged any person who should 
forge such certificate or endorsement of the county clerk as guilty of felony, 
punishable by death as a felon. The books as provided in this act were 
never delivered by the clerk of Albany to the clerk of Herkimer county- 
owing to the fact that two months later, to wit : March 5, 1794, all that 
tract of land called the military tract was separated from Herkimer county 
and was called and known by the name of Onondaga, and the provisions of 
the act in relation to the registering and recording of deeds affected only 
the military lands, none of which remained a part of Herkimer county. 

After Onondaga was established and for the further reason that the inade- 
quate and crude means of publishing the law had prevented many interested 
persons from becoming informed as to their duty in relation to title of 
lands, an act was passed March 27, 1794, extending the time limit for 
depositing such conveyance for one year, and the time for the clerk of 
Albany county to deposit such papers in the county of Herkimer was also 
extended one year and the papers and records were ordered filed with the 
clerk of Onondaga county instead of Herkimer. The clerk of Herkimer 
county, however, had commenced the record which he was required to keep 
under the provisions of the law of January 8, 1794, and had recorded six 
deeds dated subsequent to that date, when Onondaga was set off, and he 
delivered the book to Benjamin Ledyard, the first clerk of Onondaga county, 
who also, at the same time, received the filed papers from the Albany county 
clerk, which said clerk was directed to deliver to him. But Clerk Ledyard 
did not continue the book brought from Herkimer county for the same 
purpose ; he used it for recording such deeds as were dated prior to January 
8, 1794, and had been filed with the Albany county clerk, that were executed 
and paid for according to law. This book is known as " Herkimer A, 
Miscellaneous Records, Onondaga." It is called Herkimer, because of the 
fact that the lands conveyed by deeds recorded therein were part of Herki- 
mer county at the time of the execution of these deeds. This book also 
contains sundry miscellaneous records, such as powers of attorney, appoint- 
ments, articles of incorporation, etc. The papers were delivered by the 
Albany county clerk to County Clerk Ledyard at Aurora and are still in 
packages, labeled and stored away in the vaults of the present clerk's office. 
They afford a very interesting subject of research. Many of them are in 
excellent condition and well preserved; a large number are on parchment 
and bear date as early as 1783. 



II 

Prior to February 5, 179S, it was deemed essential to the validity of cer- 
tain proceedings in Supreme Court, and also of certain legal documents 
generally, that they should be engrossed on parchment. 

At this time an act was passed legalizing the use of paper instead of 
parchment in all proceedings in Supreme Court and in connection with other 
legal papers, except the processes of said court. It was also a custom in 
colonial times, and for some years prior, in executing agreements, convey- 
ances and other instruments of importance, to execute the same in dupli- 
cate, upon one sheet of parchment or paper, and then separate the same by 
cutting in an irregular manner, or by indentation, so that each party inter- 
ested in the agreement should have a copy, and in the event of any question 
arising as to the legality or validity of either, it should be tested by match- 
ing the two parts. From this custom the word " indenture," which is now 
used in our forms of deeds and mortgages, had its origin. These packages 
contain many old papers which are executed on indentured paper. There 
were also soldiers' discharges, upon which appears the original signature of 
George Washington, which formed the foundation to the title of many 
tracts of land in our county, and in many instances assignments by soldiers 
who had received their discharge, are executed on the back. There are also 
the original patents from the state, signed by different governors, appended 
to many of which is the first great seal of the state of New York, which was 
a pendant seal, impressed in wax, about three and a half inches in diameter 
attached to the instrument by ribbon, upon one side of which were the 
motto "Excelsior" and the legend "The Great Seal of the State of New 
York, and on the reverse a rock in the ocean, with the legend " Frustra." 

The register, made by the Albany county clerk, of deeds deposited pur- 
suant to the acts of January 8 and March 27, 1794, was delivered by him to 
County Clerk Ledyard in the year 1794, and is now among the records of the 
clerk's office, and in a good state of preservation. 

Only a few of the old papers were recorded in the Herkimer book, as many 
of them were not executed according to the law entitling them to be 
recorded, and in others the parties did not care to pay the fee for recording. 
Such as were not recorded remained so until 1855, when an act was passed 
directing the clerk of the county of Cayuga to record all of such filed papers 
as had not been recorded. In pursuance to this act the same were recorded, 
and they now comprise volumes A, B, and C of filed deeds. The disputes 
and litigations regarding the title to lands continued to occupy the atten- 
tion of the courts, the filing of conveyances of title, provided for by 
the act of 1794, disclosing the fact that there were many persons claiming 



12 

title to the same land, consequently a convention of delegates from a num- 
ber of towns in the military tract presented a petition to the state legisla- 
ture for a law authorizing a speedy and equitable mode of settling these 
disputes. Therefore, on March 24, 1797, an act was passed appointing 
Robert Yates, James Kent and Vincent Matthews, commissioners, with full 
power to hear, examine, award and determine according to law, all disputes 
and controversies respecting the titles and all claims whatsoever to any of 
said lands. They assembled for their first meeting at Aurora, then in the 
county of Onondaga, and from time to time at such other places as they 
saw fit, and proceeded to execute the trust reposed in them, and caused 
their awards or determinations to be entered in a book provided for that 
purpose, which, after the expiration of two years from the making thereof, 
become binding and conclusive to all persons, except such as should, within 
two years, give notice and file their dissent therefrom ; and when they had 
executed all the trusts and duties committed to them, the commissioners 
were to deposit the book in the office of the clerk of the county of Onondaga, 
there to remain as a record of their proceedings. When dissent to their 
adjudication was so filed, the question of title was to be tried out by the 
courts. The book containing the determination of the commissioners and 
notice of dissent, etc., was filed in our clerk's office, pursuant to said act, 
and is known as the " Book of Awards." 

On the 8th day of March, 1799, Cayuga county was set apart from Onon- 
daga. By the provision of this act all the records, files, papers, etc., which 
were in the clerk's office at Aurora were retained by the first clerk of Cayuga 
county, Benjamin Ledyard, who had also been the first clerk of Onondaga 
county. By an act passed April 4, iSoo, the office of the clerk of Cayuga 
county was declared to be the proDer office for the recording of deeds, 
instruments and papers then deposited in that office, and of all deeds, instru- 
ments and papers bearing date prior to January 8, 1794, notwithstanding 
the land to which said deeds, instruments and papers related might be 
within the county of Onondaga. N one of these early records affecting 
property in the present county of Onondaga were filed with the Onondaga 
county clerk until^i847, when an act was passed directing the clerk to 
transcribe such records and files of deeds, mortgages, and other papers in 
Cayuga county clerk's office as related to, or affected lands in the present 
county of Onondaga. 

The act of January 8, 1794, authorizing the first record of deeds required 
that nothing but deeds of land on the military tract should be recorded in 
these books and required a series of records and indices devoted entirely to 



13 

this purpose. The first of this series, which contained deeds dated subse- 
quently to said act, is called " Onondaga A." There are seven volumes of 
deeds under this title, lettered progressively, until Cayuga was separated 
from Onondaga; when began the system of "Cayuga deeds," beginning 
with Volume A. 

In obtaining title to the military tract by treaty with the Indians, there 
was reserved to them one hundred square miles of land lying on either side 
of Cayuga lake, which is now known as the Cayuga reservation. When this 
reservation was made, at the request of the Cayuga Indians, a grant of sev- 
eral hundred acres was made to Peter Ryckman, who was on friendly terms 
with them. This grant is known as the "Ryckman reservation." Other 
small reservations and grants were made which were afterward obtained by 
the state and subdivided and sold, the record of all the sales of these lands 
being merged into the general reservation. 

In 1794 the Cayuga reservation was ceded to the state of New York by the 
Indians, with the exception of a tract two miles square near the village of 
Union Springs, which was reserved by the Indians for their residence, and 
which was called the " Residence reservation." This was also finally ceded 
to the state of New York, and, together with all of the lands of the original 
reservations for the purpose of a system of record, is known as the Cayuga 
reservation. The portion of the large reservation so reserved on the east 
side of Cayuga lake was surveyed and plotted into 150 lots of 250 acres each, 
under an act passed in 1795, which provided that a copy of said map and one 
of the original Field books should be filed in the county clerk's office and 
also with the secretary of state. The Field book and map were filed June 27. 
1796, and are still in the clerk's office. The Field books contain the original 
notes of -the surveyor, giving direction and distance of each course of the 
several lots, and reference is made in the description of each lot to the con- 
dition of the land and the nature of timber. The correctness of the survey 
is sworn to by Joseph Annin and John I. Cantine, the surveyors. 

After completing the title to the reservation, grants were then made of 
this property by the state, which were required to be recorded as other 
deeds. But in view of the provisions of law requiring that none but mili- 
tary deeds should be recorded in the books then in use, a system of books for 
recording reservation deeds was inaugurated by the county clerk. The first 
reservation deeds were recorded in the book known as "Miscellaneous 
Record A, Cayuga." This book was also used to record powers of attorney, 
mortgages, and also miscellaneous records, including articles of incorpor- 
ation, appointments, etc. Of local interest the article of incorporation of 



14 

St. Peter's church, dated May 17, 1S06, appears in this record, in which it is 
shown that among the incorporators were William Bostwick, Dr. Hackaliah 
Burt, Ebenezer Phelps and others. 

The first instrument recorded in this book is a power of attorney from 
Aaron Burr to Benjamin Ledyard, dated November 12, 1794, authorizing 
the latter to sell and convey any real property in the then Onondaga county 
belonging to Burr. This system of Miscellaneous and Reservation deed 
records thus commenced was continued through Liber C. M. R., which is 
interpreted " Miscellaneous Cayuga Records B;" Liber M. R, W. C, which 
means " Miscellaneous Record, Reservation and Wolcott Deeds C," and Liber 
M. R. W. D., which signifies, "Liber D, Miscellaneous Record, Reservation 
and Wolcott Deeds." From this time the series was wholly devoted to Reser- 
vation deeds, and a new series of miscellaneous records was commenced 
under the title of " Miscellaneous Records A." Both of these are continued 
today under the system inaugurated at that time. The occasion for record- 
ing Wolcott deeds in separate volumes from other military land books in 
Cayuga county clerk's office, has been a matter of considerable conjecture 
for some time; but the theory of Gen. John S. Clark is no doubt the correct 
explanation. He says that when the claim of Massachusetts for a large por- 
tion of the western part of our state was pressed against us, it finally resulted 
in a compromise, by which Massachusetts was given the right of pre-emption 
over a territory includmg all of the state west of a line to be drawn due 
north and south across the state, from the 82nd milestone in the line between 
New York and Pennsylvania. This line passed west of Geneva, and became 
the west boundary of the military tract, and was surveyed and granted to 
the soldiers of the Revolutionary army of this state. Massachusetts held 
the fee of all land in this state west of that line, the state of New York 
retaining sovereignty and political jurisdiction. A few years later it became 
evident that the line was run incorrectly, at least, if not fraudulently, and a 
new line was established from the same 82nd mile-stone, which passed some 
three or four miles east of Geneva. The strip between the two lines was 
called "The Gore," and Charles Williamson, through certain 7nes7ie con- 
veyances, became the owner of the fee of this strip. 

This condition of affairs was very embarrassing, and after due consider- 
ation the state proposed to Williamson a grant of a tract of land in the pres- 
ent Wayne county containing 56,682 acres, within the military tract, which 
had not been granted as bounty lands, as a compensation for his interest in 
"The Gore." Williamson accepted the proposition, and a deed, under the 
authority of law, was duly made and delivered. Then arose a difficulty. 



15 

The county clerk was prohibited by law from recording in the regular deed 
books of the military tract any conveyances other than those emanating 
from soldiers' rights and other rights. The original deed to Williamson was 
recorded in the Albany office, and when deeds from Williamson were filed 
for record in the Cayuga county clerk's office they were recorded in the 
Book of Miscellaneous Records with Reservation deeds and other miscella- 
neous papers. The township granted to Williamson was named Wolcott. 
The record of these deeds discloses the fact that the title to the land in the 
town of Wolcott has been connected quite closely to the Royalty of Great 
Britain, this property having been sold to Sir William Pulteney of Scot- 
land, whose former name was Johnstone, and who married a daughter of 
the cousin of William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, and upon inheriting the prop- 
erty of the Earl, changed his name to that of his benefactor. 

The last Sir William Pulteney died in May, 1805, after which the property 
descended to his daughter, Henrietta Laura Pulteney; she died in 1808, and 
Sir John Lowther Johnstone, her cousin, became the owner; he died in 181 1, 
devising all his lands in America, including the Wolcott tract, to Ernest 
Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, fifth son of George III and King of Han- 
over, Charles Herbert Pierrepolnt, called Viscount Newark, and others of 
less prominence, and from this title the property has been conveyed to 
various persons in our state. 

On January i, 1867, a series of books was commenced for the record of 
deeds of property in the city of Auburn, from which time, for the purpose 
of convenience, all such deeds have been recorded and indexed in separate 
volumes, from deeds of military and reservation lands outside of the city. 

Prior to 1827 there were no general indices to the records of deeds or 
mortgages, and an investigation for a particular deed or mortgage required 
the examination of each individual volume. 

By chapter 204 of the laws of 1827, the clerks of all the counties in the mill, 
tary tracts and Cayuga and Onondaga reservations, were directed to make 
and keep a numerical index of military and reservation deeds, which should 
contain, under number of the lot, a reference to all deeds registered or 
recorded affecting such lot, specifying book and page in which they were 
recorded, and also a like index for all mortgages recorded. This method of 
indexing was continued until 1863 when it became so cumbersome and incon- 
venient that the legislature authorized the clerk to make a general alpha- 
betical index of both grantor and grantee of deeds. These indices were 
used until 1879, when the present system, known as the Campbell index, was 
adopted. 



i6 

MORTGAGES. 
The record of mortgages extends to 1794. They were not recorded in 
full at that time. The act of February 26, 178S, required simply that an 
abstract of the mortgage be registered and that when any dispute or doubt 
arose concerning the priority of mortgages given to different persons upon 
the same property, the mortgage first registered should be declared a prior 
lien, provided it was made for valuable consideration and in good faith. 
Since 1822, the mortgages have all been recorded in full. There is one 
Onondaga county mortgage book designated "Book A." The series of 
Cayuga records begins with " Book A," and progresses to " Z," and contin- 
uing with No. 27, embraces 142 volumes. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 

From the time of the laws of the Duke of York, it has always been a pre- 
requisite to the registry or recording of deeds and mortgages in this state, 
that they should be acknowledged. The records disclose, however, a 
variety of forms of acknowledgment. The first ones were simply an 
acknowledgment of signature. February 26, 17S8, an act was passed which 
required that a wife joining with her husband in a deed should be examined 
separate and apart from her husband, and must acknowledge that she exe- 
cuted such deed without any fear or compulsion on the part of her husband. 
This was the law for some time, but the ascendancy and business develop- 
ment of the alleged weaker sex which has been so marked in latter years, 
rendered this precaution unnecessary, and the requirement has been elim- 
inated from the statutes, and the married woman today joins' in a contract 
or conveyance with her husband without the inference of subjugation to 
husband's will or influence against her own judgment. Her intelligence and 
independence is placed upon a par with her husband so far as the forms and 
requirements are concerned, and the insinuation that they were not to be 
trusted to act for themselves has been removed, no doubt, permanently. 
The only change likely to be suggested with the evolution of time and 
events may be the necessity of throwing this same safeguard against undue 
influence, around the men, and require their private acknowledgment to 
test the freedom and validity of their acts. 

The requirements of acknowledgments were still deficient ; many forgeries 
and frauds were committed by persons who impersonated the rightful owners 
of the property by executing a conveyance and going before an officer 
authorized to take acknowledgments, and attesting the signature attached 
as the one of the rightful owner. An officer was not bound to know the 



17 

person presenting himself for the purpose of acknowledgment, but in 
1797, to prevent such fraud and forgery, the additional requirement was 
provided, that no officer should take the acknowledgment of a person exe- 
cuting conveyances of real property, unless he should know or have satis- 
factory evidence that the person making such acknowledgment was the 
person described in and who executed such instrument, and no such instru- 
ment should be recorded unless proved and acknowledged in this manner- 
Officers violating this law were liable to treble damage to every person 
injured thereby; but owing to the limited and dilatory means of publishing 
the law in those days, many deeds and conveyances were illegally executed 
and recorded before the existence of the law became known, and many 
clerks and other officers became liable to damages under its provisions. In 
February, 1798, the legislature passed an act legalizing these papers and 
absolving the officers from the penalty thus incurred. Eliminating the sep- 
arate examination feature, which was dispensed with by the laws of iSSo, 
the requirements of the acknowledgment at the present time are practic- 
ally the same as they were in 1797. 

The form and manner of taking oaths in connection with conveyances of 
real property, and also in the courts, has varied in some respects from the 
early times. Under colonial laws every citizen took the oath required by 
law by laying hands on and kissing the Bible or the Holy Evangelists of 
Almighty God. In 1734, the colonial legislature passed an act which per- 
mitted Quakers to declare and affirm, and in 1798, this privilege was extended 
to the Shaking Quakers and a religious sect called " The Universal Friends.'' 
In 1775 an act entitled "An Act for an indulgence to persons of scrupulous 
consciences in the manner of administering oaths," was passed, which per- 
mitted such persons as were of the religious persuasions distinguished by 
the name of the "Associate Presbyteries" and "Synods" to swear with the 
uplifted right hand. After several subsequent acts regulating oaths and 
affirmations, the option which exists today, was extended to every person 
to make oath on the Bible or with uplifted hand, or to declare and 
affirm, as he saw fit. 

In the spring of 1795, at the annual town meeting, held in and for the 
town of Aurelius, which then embraced the city of Auburn, it was voted that 
a book be purchased with the town money, for the use of said town. 
Pursuant to this authority, John L. Hardenburgh, who was then the town 
clerk, purchased a book which is now known as the " Aurelius Town Record'' 
and which is deposited in the county clerk's office. It contains the town 
records from 1795 to 182S, inclusive. This record is one of considerable 



18 

interest and importance. Many of the surveys of the old highways of the 
town, which includes several streets of our city, are recorded therein, and 
it is frequently consulted in determining streets and road lines. 

At the annual town meetings many matters relating to the general inter- 
est and management of the town were discussed and submitted to a vote of 
the electors. The result of such determinations appears as part of the town 
records. For illustration: It appears at the meeting held on the first 
Tuesday in April, 1797, it was voted that swine be allowed Free Commons, 
which provision permitted swine to run at large, on any road or land that 
was dedicated to the public as Commons, without subjecting the owner to 
liability which would accrue from the same practice on the part of animals 
not enjoying this privilege by vote of the town. It was also voted at this 
meeting, that any person producing the head of a wolf taken in the town, to 
a justice of the peace, should receive a reward of £'^. 

At a special town meeting, held January 4, 1803, for the purpose of con- 
sidering the question of dividing the county, it was voted that it was the 
opinion of the meeting that no division be made and that if one was made, 
it should be by an east and west line. This protest, duly sent to the legis- 
lature, failed in effect as the county was divided in 1804 by a north and south 
line, Seneca being erected at this time. 

In March, 1803, it was voted that horses should not run at large, and that 
sheep be Free Commoners; that Benoni Warn be allowed §15 for attendance 
on a person at his house with smallpox. 

Under the different laws on the question of slavery passed prior to 1801, 
the importation of slaves into this state was prohibited; but any person 
removing to this state from another was permitted to bring his slaves with 
him, provided he made satisfactory proof before a judge that he had resided 
out of the state for one year previous to such entry into it, and that during 
such period said slaves had been in his actual possession. A certificate of 
such proof from the judge should be filed in the town or county clerk's office. 
Also that any owner of slaves could manumit or set free any slaves held by 
him, but in the event of such slave being over 50 years of age or for any 
reason incapable to care or provide for himself, the owner was liable to 
the people for support and maintenance during his life, unless a certificate 
was obtained from the overseer of the poor, certifying that the slave was 
apparently under 50 years of age, and able to provide and care for himself 
at the time of his discharge. Many of these certificates are filed in the clerk's 
office and a large number appear recorded in the Town Book. Among other 
papers relating to slaves as recorded in this book, is an instrument signed 



19 

by John L. Hardenburgh, April 14, 1S03, liberating a colored slave for the 
sum of $300 which was paid by the negro. 

For the purpose of identification of cattle, horses, sheep, etc., owners were 
required to adopt a mark to be applied to one of the ears of the animals, and 
file a copy of it in the town clerk's office and after it was so filed and record- 
ed, any animal found at large so marked or branded was declared to be the 
property of the person filing such mark, and he was also declared liable for 
any damage done by such animals. 

These marks were filed as early as April, 1794, and appear in this book. 
They were of various forms and descriptions, such as a hole in the left ear; 
one-half penny under side of right ear; a hollow cross in the end of right 
ear; a swallow's tail in the right ear. John L. Hardenburgh's mark was a 
smooth cross in each ear and a half penny out of under part of right ear. 

COURTS. 

By the act separating Onondaga county from Herkimer in 1794, it was 
provided that the courts should be held alternately at the house of Reuben 
Patterson, in the town of Manlius, and at the house of Seth Phelps, in the 
town of Scipio. In conformity with the provisions of this act, a term of 
the court of the general sessions of the peace was held at the dwelling 
house of Seth Phelps, in Scipio, on the 4th Tuesday in December, 1794. 
Seth Phelps was presiding judge and John Harris was sheriff. Also a term 
of the court of oyer and terminer was held at the same place September 7^ 
1795, at which John Lansing, Jr., justice of the supreme court, presided. 
The courts were held at Manlius, Scipio and Ovid until 1799, when Cayuga 
county was erected ; after which, the first court held for Cayuga county con- 
vened at Cayuga Ferry, with Judge Seth Phelps presiding. The courts 
were then held alternately between Cayuga Ferry and Aurora until Harden- 
burgh Corners was agreed upon as the county seat, after which they were 
held at this place. 

The records of the early courts indicate that, practically, the same pro- 
cedure was practiced in those days as now. There are the records of many 
interesting and prominent trials, among which was that of John, a Dela- 
ware Indian, otherwise known and called "Delaware John." On June 27, 
1804, at a term of the oyer and terminer, held at the academy in Aurora, 
the grand jury presented an indictment against this Indian for murder. 
The original indictment is filed, and charges in the following language : 
" That John, a Delaware Indian, not having the fear of God before his eyes, 
but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, on the T2th 



20 

day of December, 1S03, with a certain rifle gun, of the value of $15, then 
and there loaded and charged with gunpowder and one leaden bullet, did 
inflict a mortal wound of the depth of six inches, upon the person of Ezekiel 
Crane, of which said wound said Ezekiel Crane died on the 17th day of 
December, 1803." 

The history of the case is doubtless familiar to you all. It appears from 
a description of the crime found in the history of Cayuga county as written 
by Elliot G. Storke and James K. Smith, that the Indian killed Ezekiel 
Crane by mistake, supposing him to be another man. Delaware John had 
been involved in some difficulty with a settler named Phadoc, over the kill- 
ing of some game. He planned Phadoc's murder. The Indian secreted 
himself near the cabin of his intended victim, and when he came to his 
house he fired upon him. The bullet missed doing any serious harm, and 
Phadoc fled to give the alarm. Meanwhile Crane, ignorant of what had 
happened, approached the cabin for some purpose, and the Indian, supposing 
Crane to be Phadoc returning home, pierced him with a ball, proving fatal 
a few days afterward. Upon being brought to trial, the prisoner pleaded 
guilty to the indictment and was sentenced to be hanged by the neck until 
he was dead, by the sheriff of the county, which sentence was duly executed. 

A synopsis of the various other entries of interest in these records, 
including the trials of David Williams, the second person charged with mur- 
der in Cayuga county, and William Freeman, who was defended by William 
H. Seward, together with a history of the early courts, has been faithfully 
and ably presented to your society by Judge Woolsey R. Hopkins in his 
paper on The Courts of Cayuga County, which was read January S, 1895. 

There are various other records and files of a miscellaneous nature, a 
perusal of which would, no doubt, prove profitable and interesting; but a 
further imposition upon your patience now and a scarcity of available time 
to devote to its preparation, necessitate bringing this paper to a close at this 
period, with due apology for its length. 



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